It’s no mystery that books are powerful. They teach us skills and history, and take us to places we’ve never been or that never existed. Many of the best books take us to a place inside of ourselves where we can connect with other stories and escape our own realities.

The Roses in my Carpets tells the story of a young boy, his mother and sister, living in a refugee camp. The camp serves merely as a setting for this family as we experience the common reality of feeling out of place while dealing with life around us.

Author Rukhsana Khan joins Mark to talk about how books saved her, writing politics out of children’s books and her thoughts on life as a marathon and books as sprints.